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Images show Marilyn Monroe as fashion icon

It was about 15 years ago that a movie memorabilia collector contacted Don Murray, wanting to buy the jacket he wore in his first film, “Bus Stop”.

“They were offering a lot of money,” Murray recalls. “They were very eager to own it.”

The actor chose not to part with it.

Last year, another jacket that Murray wore in the same film, one from the collection of wardrobe master Ed Wynigear, sold for nearly $1,800 at auction.

Murray has enjoyed a fine career in Hollywood, having acted in more than 60 films. He received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in “Bus Stop”.

But he is quick to acknowledge that he isn’t the reason collectors are so hot to acquire his old clothes. Instead, it has everything to do with the iconic actress who starred opposite him in “Bus Stop”.

“They wanted the jacket that had its arms around Marilyn Monroe,” Murray says.

The incandescent blond bombshell passed away nearly half a century ago — Sunday is the milestone 50th anniversary of her death — yet Marilyn is probably as big a superstar today as ever.

Like Elvis Presley and James Dean, she died before her fans were ready to let go of her.

Now it’s impossible to forget this screen legend. She’s too firmly rooted in popular culture.

Michelle Williams received an Oscar nomination for her performance last year as Monroe in the feature film “My Week With Marilyn”.

On television, the plot of NBC’s “Smash” involves the efforts to mount a big-budget Broadway musical based on Marilyn’s life.

Marilyn was immortalized as a collectible Barbie commemorating the doll’s 50th anniversary in 2009.

Various DVD and Blu-ray collections of her classic films are being released this week.

And stacks of new and reissued Marilyn biographies and tributes are crowding bookstore shelves.

Perhaps the most notable of the new Marilyn books is Lois Banner’s meticulously researched biography, “Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox” (Bloomsbury, $30), out Wednesday.

Banner, a professor of history and gender studies at the University of Southern California, spent nine years poring over the intimate details of Marilyn’s life. She interviewed more than 100 people in her inner circle and fan club, and examined confidential papers and ledgers from the final years of her life.

As a result of this research, Banner paints a very different portrait than most biographers do. The author sees her not merely as a sex symbol or a fragile victim, but as a smart, complex woman. Banner is even comfortable championing Marilyn as an early feminist.

And while most biographers tend to credit others for crafting Marilyn’s success, Banner makes a strong case that the actress did it mostly on her own, thanks to brilliant instincts, an underappreciated intellect and a willingness to take risks.

Katharine McPhee, one of the stars of “Smash,” is quick to note that she’s not an expert like Banner. Yet in preparing for her role on the show, she thinks she gained some insight into what made Marilyn tick.

“At first, I knew only the famous things about her, like the dress blowing up, the famous poses and her soft speaking voice,” McPhee says. “I didn’t really know anything about Marilyn for who she was as a person until I got the role on ‘Smash’. And now I find her so intriguing — mostly because of who she was as herself as opposed to the dumb blond characters she tended to play in the movies.”

McPhee now has a few theories of her own why Marilyn mania stands the test of time.

“She got our attention initially, of course, because she was so effortlessly beautiful,” McPhee says. “We all have a fascination with beautiful women and the struggles they go through in a man’s world.

“And although she was tormented, she was so hugely successful in her career and was so loved and coveted by Hollywood. I think that’s also part of it.

“But mostly it’s that we, the world, just didn’t get enough of her. I think that’s why she is so loved today and so remembered today. She just left us too early.”